Rutledge-Okoro participates in a form of street art called “yarn-bombing,” which is used to decorate objects in public spaces.

Already, she has yarn-bombed public parks and other locations. Today, she takes her removable graffiti to the Birmingham Museum of Art, where a Smart Car that she yarn-bombed in the shape of a rainbow fish will be on display in front of the museum for its First Thursday event.

“People do it just for fun,” Rutledge-Okoro says of yarn-bombing. “It’s something different to see; sometimes it’s for no other purpose than to see somebody smile.”

Rutledge-Okoro has been crocheting since her mother taught her at 7 years old. The legal assistant operates her own online shop, where she sells personalized crochet pieces as well as patterns.

Crocheting serves as a stress reliever for her, according to Rutledge-Okoro.

“Some people want to have a glass of wine in the evening. Some people want to go outside and take smoke breaks,” she says. “Give me a ball of yarn and hook and I’m good.”

Rutledge-Okoro says she was inspired by fellow yarn-bomber Olek’s work on Wall Street, such as yarn-bombing the iconic bull in the financial district.

“Before that, I was just designing functional crochet pieces, hats, scarves, different things like that,” she says. “I wanted the chance to kind of step out of box and do something that was just artistic and something that anyone could see driving down the street.”

Since she started two years ago, she has yarn-bombed different places all over the city, including poles and benches around Linn Park in support of Race for the Cure. Each piece was created using pink yarn and had a CQ code attached that people could use to go on the internet to find facts about breast cancer.

She has also outfitted the dog statues at Kelly Ingram Park with hats and scarves with the dual purpose of providing area homeless people with the chance to take them as they needed them.

She’s not the only yarn-bomber out there; others have decorated stop signs in Forest Park and the neighborhood grocery store V. Richards, Rutledge-Okoro says.

The Museum of Art reached out to Rutledge-Okoro after hearing about her work. She started crocheting about a month ago for her target: a Smart Car owned by Jim Sokol, a Birmingham Museum of Art board member.

She’s doing the piece in conjunction with the museum’s “Warhol and Cars: American Icons” exhibit, which runs until Sept. 16.

“Warhol used a lot of vibrant colors," she says. "There’s also a car theme. It’s complementary. It’s kind of Americana. Crochet is an old pastime; they just thought it would bring something different.”

The car represents an example of creative possibility, according to Lisa Kennedy, Rutledge-Okoro’s best friend and publicist.

“They can take an idea and with some effort and tenacity, achieve it,” Kennedy says.

Rutledge-Okoro will also be participating in the 7th Holiday Craft Bazaar from Nov. 30 to Dec. 2 in the Forest Park neighborhood. She also plans on teaching crochet classes at the City Arts Boutique this fall and at the museum.

She hopes the car display will give people a different outlook on crochet.

“I think this will be something that most people have not seen before,” Rutledge-Okoro says. “Most people haven’t been exposed to yarn-bombing before. On a big scale it will introduce people a different way of interpreting crochet. It’s not just for grandma.”